Production of oil from oil sands in the earth



Nov, l', 18932. H. I .DofHvERT'Y PRODUCTION oF on. FROM on, Asmms IN THE EARTH Nov. 1,31932. H. DOHERTY 1,885,807

I PRODUCTION OF OIL FROM OIL SANDSl IN THE EARTH Filed Aug. 28, 192,4 2 sheets-smet 2v .m. m o o fc o om ,o o 'I Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES P.\T'l=`-N'l` @FFICEF u mynnoniyymyoBx-,EI- i Application mea Angus; as, 1924. semina. 734,327. p

This invention relates the production of i oil from oil sands in the earth, and more particularly to an improved method adapted for the development both of a field from which 5 no oil has been previously removed, as well v as the development of a eld from which oil has been previously removed. This invention iis a continuation in part of that described in my cospending application Serial No. 705,562j1ed April 10th, 1924.

YThe primary object'of the present invention isvto provide a method of oil production by which a comparatively high percentage o oil may be recovered from an oil sand With' out the economic wastes which result from the present methods of oil production.

Yast experience lhas shown that oil occurs in the earth as bodies or pools absorbed in the porous sands. The oil sands are usually positioned between impervious rock strata and generally aV body of water occurs in the sand below Athe oil body, and -a body of gas occurs in the sand above the oil body. These bodies of oil, gas and water occur under cour 25, paratively high pressures, so that when the v pressure is relieved in the oil or gas body through one or more wells, the effect of'this v pressure release is reflected throughout a large portion of the pool or field in which the oil occurs.- Further, a release of the pressure on the gasV or oil bodies permits the gas and water to channel through the oil sands toward the oil wells, which tends to materially decrease the recovery of the oil. The dissi-V pation of gas through an oil well and the consequent loss of pressure in the oil sands cut down the amount of oil which will ilow through the well under natural conditions, and the occurrence of the Water with the oil tends to decrease the oil production and to cause losses and annoyancel due to the necessity ofpumping the Water and to the necessity of dehydrating or separating the Water fromV the oil.

With this in view another object of the invention is to provide amethod of developing oil fields by which the oil may be produced While maintaining pressure on the oil bodyV such that the gas loss and annoyance of wa ter vaccompanying the oil may be avoided.

pool.

Another object of th'e invention is to provide a process by which oil may be produced simultaneously over the entire area or the greater part of the area of the oil body.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of producing oil from sands by which the escapes'of gas with the oil may beheld toaminmum. Y

A further object of the invention is to provide a 'method of producing oil from sands 60 by which'the association of water with the oil may be preventeduntil the greater por- 'tion of the oil is removed from the sands.

Another object of thepresent invention is to provide a method of developing oil fields which have previously been worked and partiallyV depleted, to recover an additional amount of oil therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of developing depleted oil fields by which oil may be caused to ow from wells from which it had been necessary pre viously to recover the oil by pumping.

Another object of the invention is to pro-` vide a method of developing depleted oil' 75 elds by which dead oil may be recovered from isolated bodies of oil sand left in the ground by channellingof oil, gas and water by the usual methods ofV roduction.

With these and other o jects in view, the invention consists in the improved method of developing oil iields hereinafter described and particularly defined in the appended claims. l

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which, v

F'g. 1 is atop plan view.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 diagrammatically 90 invention as applied to a dome structure oil Fig. 3 is a,plan view. -A

Fig. 4 is a' vertical sectional view. taken 95 on the line if-4; of Fig.'"3, dia ammatically illustrating the application o the'v preferred embodimentof the invention to a body of oil occurring in a fault structure. f

l Fig. 5A is a diagrammatic plan view illus- 10 ent methods of oil production are very wastetrating the arrangement of oil wells in a depleted oil iield. y

Fi 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 showing the position of the oil sand in the earths strata; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the earths strata taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5 illustrating the position of a gas body in the oil sand. l

Petroleum oil is one of the great national ful, both of the oil and the gas whichA usually accompanies the oil body. The production of gas which usually accompanies the production of oil is of such` a nature that the t greatest part of the gas is lost. The prese'iice of water with the oil during production causas` many lossesl and annoyances. Water generally carries'a large percenta e of salts and this water actively corrodes t e casing, tubin and the pumps. Further, the water readidy emulsifies with the oil and causes va. consi erable expense in the separation of the oil from the water and emulsion. Also the water often floods the wellsand cuts down or stops the ow of oil.

The present invention relates to a method of oil production by which a body of oil is zo developed as a unit.` In this method the body of gas above the body of oil, if there is a body of gas, is maintained in substantially its normal condition and the body of water below the body of oil is controlled to Vpre- 35 vent the water from channelling through the oil body tothe wells. The oil is preferably pr'oduced by 'flowing the wells while maintaining a back pressure on the wells whereby the preure of the oil in the oil sands is main- A40 tained atsubstantially the pressure at which it naturally occurs. The oil in the sand is displaced by water by slowly and simultaneously raising the level of the body of water below the. oil body to exert suiicient pressure on the oil body to force the oil upwardly through the wells tothe surface. The pressureV of the water on the oil-is maintained by maintaining the gas pressure above the-oil suiciently l high to prevent the oil from working up into the non-wetted oilsands which are occupied by the gas.-

The development of an oil body as a unit under the present laws requires that the developer own or control all of the surface land under which the oil body is located. In many cases it is not practicable for one party to have control of all of the surface land under which an oil body islocated. Therefore it is -anticipated that the increased recovery of oil under the present invention and similar methods,and a greater conservation of gas;

will Iact tol stimulate national and state legis'- latioi"whichrw-ill require that all oil bodies that may be located shall be developed as a unit for the sake of conservation land econthe present invention it is necessary to locate quite definitely the position and boundaries of the oil body. The location of -the oil body is usually eiected by exploration. The term exploration is intended to include all'the common and usual methods being used for locating oil wells. For example geological structures indicate the position o oil bodies, various types of drilling mechanism Vtogether with ogical indications assist in locating oilb ies. Actual drillin 4ofacom arativebody, if there is gas present, be definitely located. Then the oil horizonor lower boundary should be located to find the position of the water body below the oil body. y

Referrin to Figures 1 and 2, gas wells l() should be rilled into what would b'e the top of a dome structure to locate the position of the gas body above the oil. When 'these wells 'are drilled' precaution should be taken to keep -the wells closed so that when the vgas body is tapped Vby the wel-l the gas cannot escape and the pressure maybelmaintaned within the I gas sand. Simultaneously ith the drilling of the gas wells 10, oil wel s 12 should be drilled to determine the boundaries ofthe oil body, and flowing wells should be located in the oil body such that the wells willproject into the upper portion of the oil body. As the oil wells are drilled they should be kept closed and any oil which might ilow through the wells should flow only againsty a suiicient back pressure to maintain substantially the orinal oil pressure in the oil sands. While t e oil wells 12 are being drilled water wells 14 should be drilled around the entire oil body, these wells being drilled a suilicient distance away from the oil .bodyso that water may be introduced through the wells 14 into the sand below the bottom of the oil body in the iro Sand. The sand into which thewater is in-. troduced throu h the wells 14 is the same is hereinafter referred to asoilsand". When 1 water is introduced into the oil sand throu h the wells 14 it will tend to move upwa y through the sand to raise the level of the body of water in the sand between the `impervious structure 16and 18 and thus tend to lift the oil body. If the pressure of the gas body 20 above the oil body 22 is maintained suciently high to prevent the `oil body from `be withdrawn by a natural flow aga back pressure. The water wells 14 are lo moving upwardl into the gas sand, the oil v will pass upwar y through the wells and can inst a cated suliciently far beyond the oil horizon so that the water may be introduced com aratively slowly and will gradually rise to ring up the entire water surface below the bottom ofthe oil body as a unit, and thus do away with the tendency of the water to -channel j through the sands inV assing toward the oil welloutlets. Accordmgl there will be a comparatively large num er of oil wells as distinguished from water wells, the number of oil wells being such that substantially all parts of the oil body will have an outlet, so that the oil may flow outwardly when. subjected to a water pressure acting on the bottom of the oil body'.` Thewater will be introduced simultaneously through all of the wells 14 surrounding the oil body and oil may be simultaneously flowed through all or the greater part of the oil wells projecting into the oil body. If there is no avenue of escape of water into outlying sands, the amount of oil produced through the oil `wells shouldequal the amount of water pumpedinto the body, or pool generally consists of many square mlles. Furthermore, the oil said does not have the uniform thickness, and the impervious stratas may come together in many parts of the iield Within` the pool area so that there will be islands or zones in which there will be no oil sand or oil. When water is introduced into the oil sand around the horizon of the oil body the water may haveto travel many feet or many miles before it willv materially affect the pressure of the oil in some portions of the body. However, if the pressure is Vmaintained throughout the oil body and the gas, pressure is maintained above the oilbody by a slow gradual process the water may be' forced through the oil sand to drive the oil out' of the sandv through the wells. Furthermore',

as the water advances through the sandand past outlets which formerly served as anoutlet for oil, this oil outlet may be used as a water inlet.

As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 an oil body 26is located between a gas body28 and a water body l30,-all of these bodies being located in 'an oil sand which. is'held between an impervious upper strata 32, and an imper- 'vious lower strata 34. A body of oil of this kind is illustrated as being trapped along a,

s illustrated in Figs fault une as.' This body f on would be 10` cated by exploration 1n substantially the same way as the body of oilin va dome strumture, to determine 'the boundaries of the Y body, the oil body and the water body.

A Fig. 3 the dotted line 38 indicates the boun- 'Y dary'of the gas body, the dotted line 40 the bounda The gas wells 10 would beclosed, the oil we 12 would be arranged to ilow against a back pressure, and the water would be introduced simultaneously through the water wells 14. As the water body 30 rises through the oil sand the oil will vpass outwardly through the wells 12 so that substantially all ofthe oil recovered from the sands will be recovered through iiowing wells. As the wells 12 lower in the oil body start to show water these wells should be closed and the wells higher in the structure are used to recover .the oil.

The depleted oil field diagrammatically 5 to 7 is intended to repline of the oil body', and the dotted line 42 t e boundary line of the water bod resent'an oil field in which the original boundary of an oil body is indicated by the dotted line 44, theinner boundary of a water body below the oil body is indicated by the heavy dotted line 46, and the boundary of a gas body which originally existed above the oil body is shown by the dot and dash line 48. It is assumed that the outlines of the oil, water and gas bodies `havebeen determined by exploration and developmentand that some of, the oil existing in the body 50 has been removed through wells 52, the wells 52 being illustrated as black dots to represent Wells through which oil has been recovered. In

the exploration it has been foundthat a gas body exists within the confines of the line 48 and this gas has been withdrawn through gas wells 54. The oil body 50 is illustrated 4as bein'g located in an .earth stratum in an oil sand which is located between impervious stratas, one strata being above the oil sand,`and the other strata being below the oil sand.` The term oil sand is used herein to refer to the sand or rock stratum in which the oil body 50 Y is'located. .In addition to oil, the oil sand carries a body of gas 56 and a body of water 58.

The gas body is generally located above the oil body, and the water body is generally. located below the oil body, thesebodies beingY positioned in respect to their various gravities. The drawing illustrates a flat dome structure so that the Waterbody 58 surrounds the oil body 50. Y

- In the. development of an oil .field such as illustrated in Figs. 5` to 7, by the common method of oil production the oil is recovered by projecting wells into thejoil sand and recovering the oil through flowing wellsY as long as the pressure of the oil in the sand is suiiicient to raise the oil to the surface. When Y theA oil stops flowing theY wells are pumped to recover the oil. The pumpmg operation continues so long as suicient oil can be drawn from the sands throu h the wells to pay for Dumping. As oil is rawn out of the sand through the wells, water almost universally rises m the oil sands and percolates toward the oil well outlet so that in practically all cases water is associated with the oil at the time the oil is umped from the wells.

In most of t e common methods of develm oping oil fields it is customary tol leave. the

oil wells open so that they will flow the full amount of oilthat will be forced out of them by the natural pressure of the oil in the sands andas this pressure is dissipated there is a tendency for the oil gas and water in this oil sand to channel throu h the sands in escaping-to the surface o the earth. It is through these channels that the oil is drawn princlpally during the pumping operation, o and it is through the channel that the water and gas works it way from t e lower levels to the oil wells.

The lpresent invention has to do also with the development of an oil Afield such as -described above where in all of the wells which were producingoil do not produce enough oil to pay for pumping. To develop such an oil field in accordance with the present invention all of the wells-dry'l wells, oil wells 39 vand gas wells-are closed. It -iscustomary in the usual method of development of an oil field'to draw out the casing when a well stops its production. It is necessary to see that a well of this kind is thoroughly sealed sus so that oil, water or gas cannot escapey through the-opening. In most cases in which a well has been destroyed it is advisable to locate 'a new'well in the vicinity of the abandoned well lfrom which the casing is 40 withdrawn, but preferably the newwell will be positioned m1dway between the location of the old wells.

' caseto retain the old casing and to repair the wells `so that when they are closed at the top there will be no escape of oil, water or gas around the casingl to the surface of the earth. While the oil wells within the original production area are being repaired and closed, a series'ofwater wells 60 are located around the oil body at a suicient distance from the original position of the 'oil body that water may be introduced therein without directly passing into the channels formed in the oil sand. When the water wells have f-f" been located around the entire oil body, wa-

Y ter is pumped into the oil sand so as to be introducedinto the oil sand `in the original lsition occupied by the water body 58.

is water is introduced very slowly whereit will have a tendency to rise in the oil sand as a unit body rather ,than to flow directly through channels in the sand toward a well outlets. Thus oil wells which are lowl est in the oil sand will be the first to be reached by the rising oil and will be the first It is preferred in everyl to be o ned to the How of oil. lIn order to induce t e oil to ilow through such `wells and throu hl the next higher lwells in succession as the oi level rises, alcounter-'pressure is built up over the oil body," This counter-pressure is effected by introducin air or gas throu h such wells as have not een reached by t e rising oil. Furthermore, by .maintaining a counterressure over the oil body any tendency oft 4e water to channel upwardly will be more or less neutralized an the water be caused to spread more uniformly throughout the `oil sands in a common level and under islands of oil which are usually isolated by the channels in the sand. The gas pressure preferably will be hi h enough to permit the oil to be produced t rough the oil wells 52 against a back'pressure. The gas pressure also will tend to hold the oil in the oil sand in its position which it' originally occupied so that as the lwater which is introduced around the oil horizon rises in the oil sand, the oil will be removed 'from the oil sand 'by displacement of the oil by the water.

As the oil rises in the oil sand due to the inflow of water thereunder, the wells in the sand which are located low enough in the strata to receive flow water are closed so that water is -not allowed to escape from these wells.v By closing these wells the oil as it yrises in the sand will be removed through Wellswhich are higher up in the oil sands. At lthe 'time that the water occupies substantially the same position in the oil sand which was formerly occupied by the oil, wells' lower in the oil sand structure and which had originally been closed while forcing the oil out through wells in the upper portion of the structure, may be opened to permit water. to

pass throu h the sands and to wash oil out of the san s by a scrubbing action. At this time the oil wells will flow both water and oil and the washing of the sands will continue until the amount of oil recovered is not suilicient to pay for the expense of pumping water in the oil sands. g

, When developing oil fields in accordance with the present invention, the water used normally will be the same type of salt water which occurs naturally in the oil fields, and this water may be handled through a single pumping station. It will be apparent that a comparatively low pressure will be required for producing oil because there are balanced hydrostatic heads in the oil wells and water wells.- The water wells are deeper than the oil wells and due to the fact that the. water has a higherspeciic gravity than lthe oil, there would be a natural tendency for the oil to be forced out of the sands through theoil .wells if the resistance of the flow of water through the oil'sands was not too high. Therefore 1n pumping the water into the wells 14 and 60 the only pressure which is required is that pressure which is necessary to Y overcome the resistance of the flow of water through the oil sand. Furthermore, it will e be seen that the deeper the wells the greater will be the advantage of recovering oil by the balanced heads of water and oil because `the higher hydrostatic heads of water tend to create a greater pressure for forcing the oil i out ofthe ground. This is very important .Y ordinary pumping mechanisms.

the' sands.

.The nature of the waterused for washing the' oil sands, the temperature of the waterv and the velocity of the travel of the water through the sand materially 'affects the amount of oil which may be recovered from Many tests however show that from 2 to 5 times as much oil may be washed out of the sands by the flow of Water through it than can be recovered in the usual 1methods of oil` production.

Itis important to maintain the gas pressur on the oil body to prevent the movement of the oil up into the gas sand. The dry gas sand will blot or take up a comparatively large amount of oil under the capillary attraction of the oiland itis very diiicult to recover the oil which is held by capillarity in the sand.

. The present invention therefore contemplates -the control of the oil pressure in the oil sand and the control of the iow of oil from the f sand so that the oil will not move out of the strata in which it naturally occurred. Y

In many oil bodies gas occurs with the oil and' this gas occurs both as a distinct body of gas above an oil bodyand as gas absorbed or entrained in the oil body. The amount of gas absorbed V,varies :tor` different characters of the oil and varies according t0 the pressure under which the oil exists, but the present method of developing oil fields centemplates that the amount of gas which shall be permitted to iow through a well with the l oil should be approximately only that which naturally occurs in the sand along with the oil, either as entrained or absorbed gas. As the oilv with the gas absorbed therein flows upwardly through the wells against a back preure its pressure gradually becomes lower as the hydrostatic head decreases so that the gas will be released from the oil and bubble up through the oil. This efervescence or bu bling of gas. through the oil will act as anair lift to assist in raising the oil and also to lower the gravity of the oil produced'.

in the oil well. The lowering ot the gravity of the oil body tends to counter-'balance the hydrostatic head in the oil well as distinguished :fromv the hydrostatic head in the water wellyand thus facilitates the production of the oil through the unbalanced columns ofthe water and oil.' I the pressure is maintained in the oil sand substantially as i After the Water has passed through the oil sand, the oil wells may be opened to permit water to flow through the oil` wells in order" to wash oil out of the sands and carry it to the surface with the water. After the oil has been substantially removed fromthe oil sand the gas wells may be opened and in many cases it may be advantageous to close the former' oil wells and to pump water into l the gas sand 'to force gas out ofthe sand. Then Vwashing gas out of the sands -the water may be introduced much more rapidly than when washing oil out of the sands because there is not the same tendency for the water to channel through the gas sand to by-pass bodies of gas as there is for the water to channel through the oil sand and leave islands of oil in the sand. i

Oil sands have different degrees of porosity and therefore the pressure which must be placed upon the water whichvis used to wash the oil sands will vary in accordance with these different sands. The presence of the gas with water often facilities the movement of the water through the oil sand. There.- fore, -small amounts'of gasfmay be introduced with the water to assist 'the movement of the water through the oil sands.

If from time to time the pressure gauges used on the gas wells indicate that the gas pressure above the oil body is decreasing, it may often be desirable to pump\air or gas in through the gas wells 10 to maintain a suiciently high gas pressure above the oil body to prevent the penetration of the oil intothe gas sand. A

The preferred form of the invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new is: Y

1. A method of developing a partially depleted oil body, comprising closing all oil and gas wells penetrating the oil sand, insert. ing a series of water wells at spaced intervals around substantially the entire original outer boundary of the oil body with their lower Vthe oil from rising into unwetted'sandand tol prevent substantial channelling, opening vo1l lao wellsin the louter rim of the oil body and introducing Water. into the water `Wells simultaneously around the greater portion of the area or" theoil body to thereby gradually displace the oil body asa unit from -*b'e'low- 'upwardly. h 'Y .n

y2. A method of developing a partially developed oil body, comprising closing all 0.11

l rateof flow of water to and gas wellspenetrating the oil sand, inserta series of water wells at spaced interaround substantially the entire original outer boundary of the oil body with their lower ends extending into the oil sand below vthe oil body building up a gas pressure in and above t e oil body, introducin water through the water wells and control ing the gradually raise the water level under the entire area of oil body, opening some of the wells pro'ectin into the oil body and fiowng oil theret roug and maintaining a suilicient gas pressure to prevent the oil body from rising in the sandso as to permit the water to displace the oil in the sand as its level rises. n

3. A method of developing a partially developed oil body, comprising opening a se' riesof water wells at spaced intervals around the entire mar 'n of the area covered by the oil body with t eir lower ends extending into the oil sand below the oil body, introducing gas under pressure into the sand above the oil body under pressure suilicient to prevent the oil bodyfrom rising in the sand, slowly v lforcing water through the water wells into the oil sand below the oil body and around substantially the entire area of the oil body under pressure suilicient to displaceythe overlying oil,` and lowin oil thus displaced simultaneously-throug wells projecting into theoilbody in` positions arranged to drain substantially the entire area of the oil body. 4. A method of developing a partially depletedunderground'oil sand into which oil wells roject,y comprising introducing water intot e oil sand simultaneously through a plurality of water wells which are located at spaced intervals around the entire outer margin of the oil body therein land thereby. dis@ placing the oil upwardl maintainin a counter gas pressure over t e said oil bo y above the water-filled sand suicient to prevent the` upper'level of the oil body from rising into unwett'ed sand, and confining the flow of oil displaced from :the oil body' to those oil wells which are nearest the water wells.

those oil wells 4next inwardly of the newly established water wells while maintaining said gas pressure over theoil sand.

6. A method of developing an oil field as a unit comprising determimn the location boundary of an underground o1l body, maintaining the oil in its original position in the oil sand by holdin a body of gas above the oil body under su cient pressure to prevent oil from passing up into unwetted-sand extending oil wells into the oil body and orcing oil from that body out through the wells by raising 'the level of a body of water below the oil body, and maintaining suicient back pressure on the'oil flowing through the wells to hold the oil body under substantially its natural pressure.

7. A ,method of develo ing new oil fields comprising determinin t e location boundary of an undergroun oil body, maintaining a body of gas above and in contact with ,the oil body under suilicient pressure to hold the upper surface of the oil --body in substantially its original level, projecting oil wells into the oil body in sufficient numbers to provide an outlet for oil throughout substantiall the entire area of the oil body, flowing oil rom that body through said wells by introducing water into the oil sand below the oil body, and holding a suilicient pressure on the oil flowing throu h the wells to prevent the escape of gas t rough the oil wells other than that dissolved or absorbed in the o1 v In testimony whereof I ailix m si ature.

HENRY L. DOlIEITY.

5. A method of developing a partially defpleted oil sand into which oil wells project,

'comprising initially introducing water.v into the oil sand through wells which are locat- Y ed around the entireoriginal outer margin of the oil'body therein and thereby displacing said body as a unit upwardly, maintainilla counter gas pressure over the oil body s cient to prevent it from rising into unwetted sand, confining the flow` of oil -to those oil wells which are nearest the water wells, discontinuing the introduction of vwater through the wells first used for that purpose whenthe adjacent wells flow an excessive amount of water as compared with oil and instead using said last-mentioned wells as points of introduction of water into the oil sand, and again confining the flow of oil tov 

